Friday, September 30, 2011

With concerns mounting about the possibilities of a major catastrophic event hitting the East Coast of America from a Mega-Tsunami coming from one of the Canary Islands, off the coast of North Africa; and with memories still alive from the Mega-Disasters that occurred in Japan on March 11th of this year; a company in Japan has created a tsunami capsule in-order to save lives from the extraordinary phenomenon of a gigantic tidal wave, generated by offshore earthquakes or undersea volcanic activity.

A small factory in Japan introduced its first tsunami survival shelter, a capsule which can float on water and is able to hold four adults inside. - AP.

It might look like a giant tennis ball, but in the land of the rising sun this quirky contraption is being marketed as the answer to surviving an earthquake and tsunami. Dubbed Noah - after the ark which survived biblical floods - these floating spherical capsules are claimed to protect people from drowning and debris, should another disaster hit Japan. The modern, miniature version of Noah's Ark has been developed by a small Japanese company, in case the country is hit by another massive earthquake and tsunami. The floating capsule is made from enhance fiberglass and is designed to withstand giant waves and flooding. Cosmo Power, a company based just west of Tokyo, says its 'Noah' shelter can save users from disasters like the one on March 11 that devastated Japan's northern coast, leaving nearly 20,000 people dead or missing. - Daily Mail.

In an earlier post today, I highlighted the loud booms experienced in South Carolina, now it turns out that these sounds are also being experienced in the neighboring state of Tennessee. A series of loud, mysterious booms heard and felt by residents in the Lashbrooke neighborhood in Louisville over the last week remains a mystery.

It’s not coming from a nearby quarry, according to a representative from the Vulcan Materials Company. Carl VanHoozier, manager of process improvement, community relations and governmental affairs and land and geology for Vulcan, said that while the company has two other quarries located off U.S. Highway 321 in the Friendsville area, the only quarry currently in operation is located on Duncan Road in Maryville. VanHoozier said the Duncan Road operation is far enough away from Louisville that it shouldn’t affect residents in Lashbrook, where these strange sounds have been heard as early as 5:30 a.m. Jim Millsaps, father of one of the co-owners of a new quarry on U.S. Highway 411 South, 411 Crushed Stone, said there are several state restrictions as far as blasting times. He said the earliest a quarry would begin blasting would be around 10 a.m. VanHoozier agreed. “I can certainly assure you this: we would never, ever blast that early in the morning (5 a.m.),” he said. “We usually try to do it around lunch time like everyone else.” An owner of the new quarry could not be reached for comment. Shane Asbury said he and his wife Laura were first awakened last Tuesday morning at around 5:30 a.m. by the sounds.

“We woke up at the same time to this ginormous boom,” Asbury said. “And our house was shaking.” He explained that Laura originally thought someone had crashed a vehicle into the house. When Shane went outside, he found several concerned neighbors also walking around and looking at the sky and the roofs of their houses in an attempt to identify what had happened. The sounds continued throughout the week at different times of the day and at varying degrees of strength, Asbury said. Last Thursday some 30 or 40 booms were felt — the most the neighborhood has yet experienced in one day. “You can hear it and the pictures on the walls are shaking, the blinds are shaking,” he said. “I mean it shakes the house. We don’t have any cracks in the foundation.” The Blount County Sheriff’s Office came out to investigate in the middle of last week and reportedly contacted the military to find out if they had been conducting any flights where the sound of a sonic boom might be the causing the problems. Asbury said deputies were told no operations were currently being carried out that would make such a disturbance. Asbury even emailed the U.S. Geological Survey and received a reply that no earthquakes had been recorded in the area. At times the booms were spread out over several hours, sometimes several minutes. They even drove off at least one resident for one night last week, though she returned later the next day. Asbury said several others in the neighborhood also talked about taking shelter elsewhere until the booms blow over... And this is the first time anyone’s heard of or experienced anything like this. “We’re all kinds of baffled,” Asbury said. “We don’t know what’s going on.” - The Daily Times.

Nalgae formed as a tropical depression over the western Pacific Ocean on Tuesday (27 September). By late on Thursday, it had strengthened into a typhoon.

On Thursday, the U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) reported that Nalgae had maximum sustained winds of 70 knots (130 kilometers per hour) and gusts up to 85 knots (155 kilometers per hour). The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired the above natural-color image of Nalgae on September 29, 2011. Although the storm lacks a distinct eye, it has the spiral shape characteristic of strong storms. As of early Friday, Nalgae was located less than 500 nautical mileseast-northeast of Manila, Philippines. The JTWC forecast that Nalgae would continue moving westward, in the direction of the Philippines and mainland China. Typhoon Nesat took a similar path just days earlier. - Irish Weather Online.

Meanwhile, Typhoon Nesat shut down Hong Kong and threatens Vietnam.

Hong Kong schools, financial markets, and businesses have shut as Typhoon Nesat brought howling winds, squalls of rain and rough seas to the territory. The city issued a number eight storm signal before 05:00 on Thursday (21:00GMT on Wednesday). All ferry services and some bus services have been cancelled and trains are operating at a reduced frequency. Few people were on the streets, with 100km/h (60mph) winds shredding umbrellas and making it hard to walk. Local radio reported that two people, including a taxi driver, were injured when scaffolding collapsed onto a taxi. And a large cargo barge crashed into the seafront after slipping its moorings, television footage showed. About 50 people had to be evacuated from a nearby block of flats. Some flights have been delayed. Lynn Chan, a lawyer who works in the city's central business district, said she struggled through the wind and rain only to find her office was closed. "I am the only person here," she said. "I guess I should have listened to the news before I set out." - BBC.

Two ice shelves that existed before Canada was settled by Europeans diminished significantly this summer, one nearly disappearing altogether, Canadian scientists say in newly published research.

The loss is important as a marker of global warming, returning the Canadian Arctic to conditions that date back thousands of years, scientists say. Floating icebergs that have broken free as a result pose a risk to offshore oil facilities and potentially to shipping lanes. The breaking apart of the ice shelves also reduces the environment that supports microbial life and changes the look of Canada's coastline. Luke Copland is an associate professor in the geography department at the University of Ottawa who co-authored the research published on Carleton University's website. He said the Serson Ice Shelf shrank from 79.15 square miles (205 square kilometers) to two remnant sections five years ago, and was further diminished this past summer. Copland said the shelf went from a 16-square-mile (42-square-kilometer) floating glacier tongue to 9.65 square miles (25 square kilometers), and the second section from 13.51 square miles (35 square kilometers) to 2 square miles (7 square kilometers), off Ellesmere Island's northern coastline.

This past summer, Ward Hunt Ice Shelf's central area disintegrated into drifting ice masses, leaving two separate ice shelves measuring 87.65 and 28.75 square miles (227 and 74 square kilometers) respectively, reduced from 131.7 square miles (340 square kilometers) the previous year. "It has dramatically broken apart in two separate areas and there's nothing in between now but water," said Copland. Copland said those two losses are significant, especially since the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf has always been the biggest, the farthest north and the one scientists thought might have been the most stable. "Recent (ice shelf) loss has been very rapid, and goes hand-in-hand with the rapid sea ice decline we have seen in this decade and the increasing warmth and extensive melt in the Arctic regions," said Ted Scambos, lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado, remarking on the research. Copland, who uses satellite imagery and who has conducted field work in the Arctic every May for the past five years, said since the end of July, pieces equaling one and a half times the size of Manhattan Island have broken off. Co-researcher Derek Mueller, an assistant professor at Carleton University's geography and environmental studies department, said the loss this past summer equals up to three billion tons. Copland said their findings have not yet been peer reviewed since the research is new, but a number of scientists contacted by The Associated Press reviewed the findings, agreeing the loss in volume of ice shelves is significant. - Yahoo.

“So far have they [the United States] strayed into wickedness in those [future] times that their destruction has been sealed by my [father]. Their great cities will burn, their crops and cattle will suffer disease and death, their children will perish from diseases never seen upon this Earth, and I reveal to you the greatest [mystery] of all as I have been allowed to see that their [the United States] destruction will come about through the vengeful hands of one of our very own sons.” - Johanwa Owalo, Kenyan Prophet and the founder of Kenya’s Nomiya Luo Church, 1912.

I have been saying for years that the age of Obama would result in the destruction of America, as we know it, and the current news headlines are providing the evidence of this. From the "evolutionary flash point" of the recession-ruined economy to the collapse of the United States dollar to the escalation in immorality to the unprecedented destruction from Earth changes. Against the background of the monumental and record-breaking weather systems experienced during this year, Americans are waking up everyday to the new news of the constant and persistent deluge of disasters suffered under his presidency.

A devastating Texas drought that has browned city lawns and caused more than $5 billion in damages to the state's farmers and ranchers could continue for another nine years, a state forecaster said on Thursday. "It is possible that we could be looking at another of these multiyear droughts like we saw in the 1950s, and like the tree rings have shown that the state has experienced over the last several centuries," State Climatologist John Nielson-Gammon told Reuters. Some 95 percent of the state is listed as being in either "severe" or "exceptional" drought by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Drought Monitor, and Nielson-Gammon said the last 12 months have been the driest one-year period on record in the Lone Star State. The state's worst recorded drought lasted from 1950 through 1957 and prompted the creation of artificial lakes all across Texas to supply water to a state that at the time had a population of 15 million - a whopping 10 million fewer than today. The long-term weather patterns, including La Nina currents in the oceans, mirror records from the early 1950s, Nielsen-Gammon said. The current drought, which he said began in earnest in 2005, could wind up being a 15-year stretch if patterns hold, he said. "We're very lucky that we had 2007 and 2010, which were years of plentiful rain," he said. "2010 was the wettest year in record. Were it not for last year, we would be in much worse shape even than we are today." Conditions in Texas now are far from good. The drought has dried up many lakes built after the drought of the 1950s, and more than 23,000 separate wildfires fueled by dried brush and trees have destroyed 3.8 million acres and with that 2,800 homes, according to the Texas Forest Service.

Nielson-Gammon said Texas was now 10 to 20 inches of rainfall behind where it should be at the end of September, usually one of the state's wettest months. Rather than being the exception, severe drought could become the rule in Texas going forward, with wet years being more noteworthy. "We've had five of the last seven years in drought, and it looks like it is going to be six out of eight," he said. The month is going out the same way it came in, with Texas firefighters on edge. Friday will be another extremely dangerous day for wildfires, with conditions similar to those over the Labor Day weekend when 60 fires erupted across the state, Holly Huffman of the Texas Forest Service said. On Sept. 4, a gust of wind blew a dead pine tree into power lines east of Austin, sparking the deadly Bastrop Complex Fire. That blaze killed two people, destroyed 1,600 homes, and is now the costliest fire in terms of lost property in Texas history. The Forest Service this week called in two air tankers from Canada to fight wildfires that continue to burn around Texas, citing a shortage of enough planes to fight the state's fires. - MSNBC.

Marine experts have been left baffled after a rare whale was found over 800 metres from the shore in the Humber Estuary, Skeffling, East Yorkshire.

The 33ft mammal is thought to have died after getting caught in shallow waters – rolling onto its own blowhole before getting swept inland by the tide. Experts are “95 percent sure” the whale is a female from the rare Sei species – only three of which have been found stranded on the British coast in the last twenty years. “It is sad. It was in shallow water of about 4ft to 5.25ft, making contact with the bottom,” said Andy Gibson, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. “This was about 800m offshore. When it gets in that situation it rolls onto its side and it can cover its blowhole. Sometimes whales come into shallow water looking for food and get stuck,” added Kirsten Smith, North Seas manager at Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. “With the high tide the whale probably got carried up on to the salt marsh, got pushed back further in shore and then got stuck when the tide went out.” Earlier this month a fin whale washed up dead near Spurn Point, North East Lincolnshire after getting stranded at Immingham. Yorkshire Wildlife Trust has seen a rise in whale sightings over the last year but are unable to explain the increase in the North Sea. - Yahoo.

Satellite imagery suggests that the eruption of Nabro Volcano in northeast Africa, which began in June 2011, is continuing.

The volcano is located on the edge of the Danakil Desert, a remote and sparsely populated area on the border between Eritrea and Ethiopia, and few eyewitness accounts of the eruption are available. Orbiting instruments such as the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) aboard Earth Observing-1 (EO-1), which acquired these images, may be the only reliable way to monitor Nabro. The images show the volcano in false-color (top) and natural-color (lower) on September 28, 2011. Heat from vents in Nabro’s central crater is visible as a red glow in the false-color image. Another hotspot about 1,300 meters (4,600 feet) south of the vents reveals an active lava flow. A pale halo surrounding the vents indicates the presence of a tenuous volcanic plume. South of Nabro’s crater, the dark, nearly black areas are coated with ash so thick it completely covers the sparse vegetation. On either side of this region is a thinner layer of ash with some bright green vegetation (exaggerated in false-color) poking through. In the natural-color image, the arid landscape is light brown where it is not covered by ash. The ash is black, while a fresh lava flow, spewed out in the last two weeks of June, is dark brown. More fresh lava flows surround the active vents. On either side of Nabro’s caldera, ephemeral streams have washed away the ash, leaving light-colored channels behind—a first sign of the erosion that will reshape, and eventually remove, what the eruption built. - Irish Weather Online.

A loud boom shook the coastal Lowcountry, Wednesday morning, felt from Mount Pleasant to West Ashley.

And once again, no one could say what it caused it. Seismographs at the College of Charleston didn’t pick up any earthquake activity. The Charleston Air Force Base didn’t report any military aircraft loosing sonic booms. No commercial vessels responded to a U.S. Coast Guard message asking for reports if it had been felt offshore. But the reverberation most likely came from the “Seneca Guns.” The “Guns” are a so-far-unexplained, offshore phenomenon felt along coasts around the world. The booms have been speculated to be caused by gases released from the sea floor, undersea landslides along the Continental Shelf, the echoed sound of distant thunder, lightning-like electrical discharges that don’t cause lightning, even meteors crashing into the atmosphere at angles. The blast hit just before 10 a.m. “It was a pretty good shake, a pretty loud boom,” said Mark Reamer, who felt it in his office near Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant.

“I said it was probably one of those big electricity pillars getting pummeled down.” He wondered only half-facetiously if it might have been a piece of the satellite that fell out of orbit earlier this week. “The mirrors on the wall rattled,” said Melinda Issacson, who was working out at home on James Island. Doors, windows and houses shook in Mount Pleasant and on Sullivan’s Island, according to Twitter reports. In West Ashley, someone posting on Twitter said it sounded like a gust of wind against the house. About the same time a large tree fell across Hut Road on John’s Island and a nearby resident reported an explosion. Small quakes and other booms are regular occurrences in the Lowcountry, where a series of faults converge underground. The last big shake was a temblor from the 5.8 Richter Scale quake in Virginia in August. In March, a succession of three loud booms that were widely believed to be the Seneca Guns shook. - The State.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the largest earthquake to ever hit South Carolina was the 1886 tremor that struck Charleston.

This is the most damaging earthquake to occur in the Southeast United States and one of the largest historic shocks in Eastern North America. It damaged or destroyed many buildings in the old city of Charleston and killed 60 people. Hardly a structure there was undamaged, and only a few escaped serious damage. Property damage was estimated at $5-$6 million. Structural damage was reported several hundred kilometers from Charleston (including central Alabama, central Ohio, eastern Kentucky, southern Virginia, and western West Virginia), and long-period effects were observed at distances exceeding 1,000 kilometers. - USGS.

Enormous swarms of jellyfish - some of them deadly - are taking over the Mediterranean, a top scientist has warned.

The holiday hotspot, a favourite with Brits, has seen a sharp increase in numbers and could turn into an 'ocean of jellyfish'. Now researchers have set up a 'Jellywatch' so the public can report sightings via a website or by using a phone app. The scheme started in Italy and Israel three years ago after growing public fears over jellyfish 'blooms'. Monitoring has since begun in Spain. The man behind the plan, Professor of zoology Ferdinando Boero, warned: 'Jellyfish cause problems for swimmers, particularly as some species are a real health hazard. 'An Italian woman was killed last year after being stung by a Portuguese Man o' War.

'Jellyfish have clogged industrial marine cooling systems in Israel and they have also caused problems for power plants in the US and Scotland.' He added:, 'If we don't do anything about the situation, all the indications from Jellywatch suggest that the Mediterranean is moving towards a gelatinous future, just like the rest of the seas of the world.' Prof Boero, from the University of Salento, in Italy, will be addressing an international conference on the problem in Aberdeen tomorrow. He said: 'While jellyfish are a natural feature of the Mediterranean, 'jelly blooms' were rarely seen until the last few years when massive swarms became a frequent sight in coastal waters. 'This causes all sorts of problems and one of the biggest is obviously tourism.' Prof Boero believes over-fishing could be to blame for the increase. But climate change and the building of coastal defences could be factors, too. - Daily Mail.

In a press conference today, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) disclosed that solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) from the Sun are creating a major disturbance on the planet Mercury.

SOLAR WIND BLASTS MERCURY: At a NASA teleconference today, researchers working with data from the Messenger spacecraft announced evidence that gusts of solar wind are penetrating Mercury's magnetic field and eroding material off the innermost planet's surface. The spacecraft has actually flown through plumes of ionized sodium escaping from weak points in Mercury's magnetosphere. - Space Weather.

For decades scientists had puzzled over whether Mercury had volcanic deposits on its surface. MESSENGER's three flybys answered that question in the affirmative, but the global distribution of volcanic materials was not well constrained. New data from orbit show a huge expanse of volcanic plains surrounding the north polar region of Mercury. These continuous smooth plains cover more than 6% of the total surface of Mercury. The volcanic deposits are thick. "Analysis of the size of buried ‘ghost' craters in these deposits shows that the lavas are locally as thick as 2 kilometers" (or 1.2 miles), explains James Head of Brown University, the lead author of one of the Science reports. "If you imagine standing at the base of the Washington Monument, the top of the lavas would be something like 12 Washington Monuments above you." According to Head, the deposits appear typical of flood lavas, huge volumes of solidified molten rock similar to those found in the few-million-year-old Columbia River Basalt Group, which at one point covered 150,000 square kilometers (60,000 square miles) in the northwest United States.

"Those on Mercury appear to have poured out from long, linear vents and covered the surrounding areas, flooding them to great depths and burying their source vents," Head says. Scientists have also discovered vents, measuring up to 25 kilometers (16 miles) in length, that appear to be the source of some of the tremendous volumes of very hot lava that have rushed out over the surface of Mercury and eroded the substrate, carving valleys and creating teardrop-shaped ridges in the underlying terrain. "These amazing landforms and deposits may be related to the types of unusual compositions, similar to terrestrial rocks called komatiites, being seen by other instruments and reported in this same issue of Science," Head says. "What's more, such lavas may have been typical of an early period in Earth's history, one for which only spotty evidence remains today."... "Our results tell us that Mercury's weak magnetosphere provides the planet very little protection from the solar wind," he continued. "Extreme space weather must be a continuing activity at the surface of the planet closest to the Sun." - NASA.

It is my view, that our Sun is reacting to the imminent convergence of our solar system with another world, and that all the planets locked in gravitational orbit around it will be feeling the effects from that reaction on their respective magnetospheres. Expect to see more results like this in the foreseeable, on our neighboring astronomical objects, as we are truly looking at a celestial convergence here.

Forecasters say Hurricane Ophelia is rapidly gaining strength and is expected to pass east of Bermuda.

At 8 a.m. EDT, Ophelia had winds approaching 105 mph (169 kph). The National Hurricane Center in Miami said the center of Ophelia was about 665 miles (1,070 kilometers) south of Bermuda, and was moving north-northwest at about 9 mph (15 kph). It was expected to speed up and pass east of Bermuda on Saturday. A tropical storm watch is effect for Bermuda. Ophelia reached hurricane strength Thursday afternoon and became a Category 2 storm by Friday. It is the fourth hurricane of the season. Earlier, Ophelia caused flooding and cut off communities on Dominica. Tropical Storm Philippe remains far from land, moving west-northwest with winds of about 45 mph (72 kph). - Washington Post.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Plumes of ash and molten rock shot into the sky on Wednesday night as the Mount Etna volcano burst into life for the fifteenth time this year.

Italy's Mount Etna has erupted again, with lava spewing into the sky Wednesday. Mount Etna put on an impressive display, launching flames and sparks more than 800 feet in the air. Experts were there to monitor the eruption from the volcano's southeastern crater. Etna looms over Catania - Sicily's second largest city. The eruption caused disruptions at Catania Airport, but the airport re-opened Thursday. - 9 News.

On the evening of 28 September 2011, the New Southeast Crater of Etna has produced its 15th paroxysmal eruptive episode since the beginning of this year. The culminating phase of this episode lasted less than a half hour but was more violent than those of the preceding paroxysms; on the contrary lava emission was rather minor, forming two small flows that reached the upper part of the steep western slope of the Valle del Bove. The ash plume was driven southwestward by the wind. Mount Etna, towering above Catania, Sicily’s second largest city, has one of the world’s longest documented records of historical volcanism, dating back to 1500 BC.Historical lava flows cover much of the surface of this massive basaltic stratovolcano, the highest and most voluminous in Italy. Two styles of eruptive activity typically occur at Etna. Persistent explosive eruptions, sometimes with minor lava emissions, take place from one or more of the three prominent summit craters, the Central Crater, NE Crater, and SE Crater. Flank eruptions, typically with higher effusion rates, occur less frequently and originate from fissures that open progressively downward from near the summit. A period of more intense intermittent explosive eruptions from Etna’s summit craters began in 1995. The active volcano is monitored by the Instituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Volcanologia (INGV) in Catania. - Earthquake Report.

According to several news reports, that I have just translated, here is the summarized information regarding the latest developments in the Canary Islands: Two military response units will be dispatched today from Tenerife to the island of El Hierro, to assist in evacuation activities as the seismic activity has increased in strength, during which time, 368 earthquakes was registered in the past 24 hours, of which more than 20 were over a magnitude of 3. The application was requested by the government of the Canary Islands and is supported by the Ministry of Defence, who will assist in the emergency evacuation of the citizens of El Hierro. The first evacuation will take place today with the help of 31 soldiers, four buses and 6 trucks, residents will be moved to the Barracks located in La Caleta, at the same time the military is responsible of installing a camp that can house 2.000 people. The minister has made it clear that this is part of 'Prevention against possible Risk' and that no eruption has taken place.

Here's an earlier report of the what is developing into a monumental crisis:

The Canary Islands Government has raised the alert level for the El Hierro volcano in the Canary Islands (Spain) to ‘Yellow’, the highest alert status since an unprecedented earthquake swarm commenced in mid-July. Spanish seismologists, accompanied by the President of the Cabildo de El Hierro and the Minister of Security and Emergency Area, held a press conference on Sunday to reassure the 10,000 residents of the smallest of the Canary Islands that the raising of the alert level does not indicate that an eruption is imminent. They indicated, however, that the number of volcanic earthquakes detected beneath El Hierro continues to increase. Hierro, a shield volcano, has had a single historic eruption from the Volcan de Lomo Negro vent in 1793. The eruption lasted approximately one month and produced lava flows. The Canary Islands Government commenced an in-depth geological survey of El Hierro earlier this month in an effort to determine the source of an earthquake swarm.

The unprecedented seismic activity commenced on 19 July (the activity was first reported by iWeather Online on 26 July). In excess of 6,750 earthquakes have been recorded up to Monday, 26 September 2011. More than 50 earthquakes were recorded between midnight and 6:00 a.m. GMT on Monday alone. The earth tremors have ranged between 1 and 3 magnitude, the National Geographic Institute (IGN) reported. The vast majority of the tremors have been recorded in the northwest of the 278.5-square-kilometre island at El Golfo, the location of a massive landslide that created a 100-metre high tsunami almost 50,000 years ago. Speaking to the El Pais newspaper during the weekend, volcanologist Juan Carlos Carracedo suggested that an eruption on El Hierro would “not be a major surprise”. He explained: “It is the youngest of the Canary Islands. There is a ball of magma which is rising to the surface and it is stationed at the limit of the earth’s crust. At the moment we do not know if that ball of magna will break the crust and cause an eruption.” - Irish Weather Online.

Have a look at the list of today's earthquakes from the Canary Islands.

European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre Earthquake List.

WATCH: 4D Plot of El Hierro earthquakes.

WATCH: How a mega-tsunami from the Canary Islands could hit America.

UPDATE: Mainstream media place focus on the Canary Islands.

After months of ignoring the exponential increase in earthquakes and the monumental crisis that is currently developing in the Canary Islands, the mainstream media is now shedding some light on the situation, and placing focus on the threat and evacuation of residents from the islands.

With the Pico de Malpaso mountain spitting rocks intermittently and a growing rumbling underground, authorities made emergency preparations on Wednesday in case the volcano blows its top on the Atlantic island of El Hierro. "I have never felt shaking like it," said Herminio Barrera, 25, a mechanic in the town of La Frontera. "I notice it especially at night. We can also hear a rumbling and sounds from deep down." A municipal official who asked not to be named told AFP that 53 residents and tourists had been evacuated to protect them from the occasional flying volcanic rock and the defence ministry said it was preparing emergency shelter for 2,000 people. "I am staying calm but there are people who are more worried, particularly those with children," Mr Barrera told AFP. "We are very close to the mountain. My father-in-law left yesterday." The Canary Islands regional government said it was in a state of pre-alert and was stocking drinking water and medical supplies, but officials played down any risk of a disaster.

"We will not have to evacuate the island," population 11,000, said the head of the island's local council, Alpidio Armas. "The number of tremors has increased, but most of them are in the sea." The municipal official said the authorities did not expect an "imminent eruption" and the island's official risk alert for the 1,500-metre (4,9200-foot) peak remained on yellow, or intermediate. The national defence ministry said it had sent 31 military personnel to the island to help with the evacuation and Defence Minister Carme Chacon was heading there to inspect the emergency preparations. The Spanish National Geographic Institute has recorded 8,000 tremors since July 19, most of them too small to be felt, but they have been growing in intensity. One recorded overnight on Wednesday reached 3.4 magnitude. "We have not seen this kind of movement with such frequency on El Hierro since records began" more than a century ago, said a spokeswoman for the Canary Islands government, Ana Vidal. - Telegraph.

The History Channel continues its popular series on extraterrestrials, alien theorists and ancient civilizations with season three of Ancient Aliens.

The following video playlist constitutes program ten, entitled Aliens and Evil Places and runs for 44 minutes. It examines whether extraterrestrials are the source or origin of the evil and negativity, that have afflicted the world since the ancient civilizations.

"For thousands of years, there have been places around the world considered dangerous to humans. Might these locations hold the key to an otherworldly connection? At Australia's Black Mountains, local myths speak of ancient serpent gods and hikers disappearing. Every year hundreds are drawn to a dark forest at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan--to commit suicide. What causes these places to be evil? Could there be evidence that past extraterrestrial activity lead to the negative energy in Earth's evil places? " - The History Channel.

Here are several of the latest unidentified flying objects (UFOs) seen recently across the globe.

Amber/yellow lights were seen and recorded hovering in the night sky above Russia on Wednesday 28th September 2011.

WATCH: Bright unknown objects hovering over Russia.

New video of bright unidentified flying object in triangle formation hovering above Pudong in China. This footage was was filmed on Tuesday, 27th September 2011.

WATCH: Triangle UFO formation over Pudong, China.

New video of unknown bright object flying across the sky over Tyneside in United Kingdom. Recorded on Tuesday, 27th September 2011.

WATCH: UFO flying over Tyneside, UK.

Interesting footage of bright UFOs or Orbs were recorded over Italian city Taranto on Wednesday, 21st September 2011.

WATCH: UFO or orbs over Taranto, Italy.

In the following episode of the Paranormal Report, hosts Clayton Morris and Jim Harold looks at a myriad of subjects, including the skyrocketing sightings of UFOs; the appearance of a mysterious boy; the Phoenix lights; whether Albert Einstein was wrong about the speed of light; is actor Nicholas Cage a vampire; and much more.

"I have lived with the river all my life and I am used to extreme flows but this is not a low water level, this is actually the flow of the river stopping altogether."

Farmers and fishermen were left baffled after the River Mole stopped flowing last week.

The river used to disappear into "swallow holes" in the river bed, caused by the permeable chalk bedrock beneath, before reappearing above ground further downstream, and this might have explained the issue in the past. But during the construction of the A24 Mickleham Bypass in the 1930s, most of the holes were concreted over, meaning its disappearance on Friday is a mystery. Judy Kinloch, who lives near the river at Lodge Farm in Mickleham, said: "The swallow holes are still there but they're not taking in water at that rate and, if they were active, they would be doing it all the time. "The point is that it was here one day and gone the next. That's the odd thing. Somehow it has suddenly disappeared."

According to farmer Nick Bullen, whose land the river runs through, a similar thing had happened the week before – but on both occasions, the river reappeared within 24 hours. He said: "I came over the bridge on Monday afternoon and thought, 'that's a bit strange'. "I didn't think anything more of it but then on Tuesday morning it was still down so I phoned the Environment Agency. "For the time of year and the amount of rain we've had, it just doesn't add up." Dorking and District Angling Society owns fishing rights at many points along the river, and members are concerned about the Mole drying up. Secretary Paul Huggins said: "The angling society is concerned about the conservation of the river environments. All the fish we catch are returned unharmed to the water. - Surrey Today.

I told you several days ago, that over the last two weeks, more than 30 dead or dying ducks have been found at ponds and lakes around the city. Residents of the Lake I and Lake II communities have reported finding hen and drake mallards floating in the lakes there and flopping on nearby grass. Now, every evening after work and on weekends Terry Whatley looks for dead and dying mallard ducks around the city's lakes and watersheds.

In the past two weeks she's seen them listlessly sitting in the water at Village Pond Park many unable to make it to shore. Others lying in the bushes barely able to breathe. With the help of fellow resident Dan Grey, who's built a long pole to try and fish the birds out of the water, the two have rescued dozens. Wildlife experts say the ducks are dying from some type of toxin that is coming from the city's lakes and watersheds. Last week residents of the Lake I and Lake II communities reported finding the mallards floating in the lakes and flopping on nearby grass. Dead ducks also have been found at Village Pond Park and nearby at the Forest Gardens Mobile Home Park. A week ago, more than 30 hens and drakes were reported as dying and dead. This week the number has doubled.

Some of the water fowl have been picked up by OC Animal Care officers; others have been transported to the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach. In both cases duck carcasses have been taken to the Orange County Vector Control District for testing. Ryan Drabek, director of OC Animal Care, says his animal care officers have been picking up the ducks as quickly as possible and are working with Wetlands and the city of Lake Forest. "Botulism is assumed but not confirmed," he said. "If residents see a dying or dead duck they should call us as soon as possible. This is not good," said Debbie McGuire, director of the Huntington Beach wildlife center. "This is typical of a ramp-up. If it hits them in the middle of the lake they become paralyzed and can drown. Sometimes it's so sever that it arrests their ability to breathe. It's a neuro-toxin." - OC Register.

Federal health officials said Wednesday more illnesses and possibly more deaths may be linked to an outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe in coming weeks. So far, the outbreak has caused at least 72 illnesses - including up to 16 deaths - in 18 states, making it the deadliest food outbreak in the United States in more than a decade.

The Colorado farm where the potentially deadly cantaloupes were traced to, Jensen Farms in Holly, says it shipped fruit to 25 states, and people with illnesses have been discovered in several states that were not on the shipping list. A spokeswoman for Jensen Farms said the company's product is often sold and resold, so they do not always know where it ends up. "If it's not Jensen Farms, it's OK to eat," said Thomas Frieden, director of the US Centres for Disease Control. "But if you can't confirm it's not Jensen Farms, then it's best to throw it out." The recalled cantaloupes may be labelled "Colorado Grown," "Distributed by Frontera Produce," "Jensenfarms.com" or "Sweet Rocky Fords" but not every recalled cantaloupe is labelled with a sticker, the US Food and Drug Administration said. The company said it shipped out more than 300,000 cases of cantaloupes that contained five to 15 melons each, meaning the recall involved 1.5m to 4.5m pieces of fruit. Frieden and FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg said that illnesses are expected for weeks to come because the incubation period for listeria can be a month or even longer. Jensen Farms last shipped cantaloupes on 10 September, and the shelf life is about two weeks. "We will see more cases likely through October," Hamburg said. The FDA said Colorado health officials found listeria in cantaloupes taken from grocers' and from a victim's home. Matching strains of the disease were found on equipment and cantaloupe samples at Jensen Farms' packing facility in Granada, Colorado.

Sherri McGarry, a senior adviser in the FDA's office of foods, said the agency is looking at the farm's water supply and possible animal intrusions among other things in trying to figure out how the cantaloupes became contaminated. Listeria bacteria grow in moist, muddy conditions and often are carried by animals. The health officials said this is the first known outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe. Listeria generally is found in processed meats and unpasteurised milk and cheese, although there have been a growing number of outbreaks in produce. Hamburg called the outbreak a surprise and said the agencies were studying it closely to find out how it happened. Cantaloupe is often the source of other outbreaks, however. Frieden said CDC had identified 10 other cantaloupe outbreaks in the last decade, most of them salmonella. Listeria is more deadly than well-known pathogens like salmonella and E coli, although those outbreaks generally cause many more illnesses. Listeria generally affects only the elderly, pregnant women and others with compromised immune systems. The CDC said the median age of those struck with illness is 78 and that one in five who contract the disease can die from it. Symptoms include fever and muscle aches, often with other gastrointestinal symptoms. Unlike many pathogens, listeria bacteria can grow at room temperatures and even refrigerator temperatures. It is hardy and can linger long after the source of the contamination is gone; health officials say people who may have had the contaminated fruit in their kitchens should clean and sanitise any surfaces it may have touched. - The Guardian.

A powerful typhoon slammed into southern China on Thursday after skirting Hong Kong and bringing death and widespread flooding to the Philippines earlier this week.

Typhoon Nesat made landfall on the eastern tip of China’s Hainan island at 2:30 p.m. and was packing winds as high as 94 miles (150 kilometers) an hour, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The storm blew down trees and flooded streets as it moved across Hainan, photos on state media showed. A large tree toppled onto a parked car in the provincial capital, Haikou. Flood control officials said nearly 58,000 people were evacuated from low-lying areas in eastern Wenchang city and 67 flights were canceled at the island’s two airports, Xinhua said. Hainan authorities closed schools, suspended ferry services and recalled fishing boats as the storm made its way across the South China Sea from the Philippines, where it killed 35 people and left another 45 missing. The storm swept past Hong Kong earlier in the day, forcing the stock market to suspend trading and shops and businesses to close but causing little damage. The Asian financial center’s normally bustling streets were eerily quiet, with few people venturing outside to brave the rain and fierce winds.

Two people were injured when bamboo scaffolding was blown over and collapsed onto a taxi, while a man was injured by a falling tree, local broadcaster RTHK said. A barge ripped free from its moorings in the rough seas and slammed into a seawall on Hong Kong Island, forcing some nearby apartments to be evacuated, news reports said. Local broadcaster Cable TV showed footage of tour groups from mainland China, some heading to Macau, who were temporarily stranded after cross-border ferry services were suspended. At Hong Kong’s airport, 245 flights were delayed, 20 were canceled and 22 diverted to other airports by 3 p.m. The storm came within 220 miles (350 kilometers) of Hong Kong in the morning before moving away, said the Hong Kong Observatory, which lowered its gale-force wind warning by late afternoon. The National Meteorological Center reported that fishing boats were in port and schools along the coast had been shut in advance of the typhoon, which is the 17th and likely the strongest to hit Hainan this year. Nesat left devastation in the Philippines, triggering some of the worst flooding in downtown Manila in decades. - Washington Post.

The Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly in Ghana, on Wednesday, suspended all fishing activities in the Butuah Lagoon at New Takoradi until further notice.

This was contained in a statement signed by Mr. Opoku Boateng, the Public Relations Officer of the assembly, following a stakeholders’ meeting on the alleged pollution of the Butuah Lagoon that led to the death fishes. Representatives of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Fisheries department, Metropolitan Health Directorate and oil marketing companies in Sekondi-Takoradi attended the meeting. The assembly advised residents of New Takoradi to desist from eating any dead fish. The statement said the assembly has directed the Metropolitan Health Directorate to find out from the various health facilities in the metropolis any reported ailment that could be linked to the eating of contaminated fish.

“The general public is hereby advised to immediately report any ailment as a result of any fish diet to the nearest health facility”, it said. The statement said the assembly had ordered the immediate exhumation of buried fishes to undertake a proper burial exercise under the strict supervision of the EPA, Environmental Health and Waste Management Departments of the assembly to forestall any further environmental hazards. The EPA has taken samples of the dead fishes to its head office in Accra for analysis to ascertain and establish facts on the alleged pollution. The EPA has also been asked to continue its investigations into industrial activities in the catchment area to find out any linkage of their activities to the pollution. - Ghana Business News.

At least nine people were killed when their bus was swept away by floodwaters from the Tres Quebradas River in eastern Guatemala, officials say.

Nine bodies have been recovered and the search continues for seven other passengers listed as missing, the spokesman for the Conred emergency management agency, David de Leon, told reporters in the capital on Wednesday. The tragedy occurred on Tuesday night when the bus driver tried to cross the rain-swollen river, fire rescue personnel told radio stations. Torrential rains also caused flooding in the southern coastal town of San Sebastian, but there were no reports of casualties, De Leon said, though seven homes were destroyed and 100 others damaged. Heavy rains and flooding are blamed for more than 30 deaths this year in Guatemala. - Sky News.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Here are several of the latest unidentified flying objects (UFOs) seen recently across the globe.

Interesting footage of mass UFO activity in the sky over Santiago, Chile. This was recorded on Sunday, 25th September 2011.

Several orbs forming lines, moving from north to south. I was published in a national newspaper online (www.latercera.com) very conservative editorial but trustable. Also 24th september were a blackout over the country and several witness saw this same kind of light and movement. - Pablo, Eye-witness.

WATCH: UFO activity over Santiago, Chile.

New videos of unknown objects or orbs over Brooklyn, New York filmed from four different angles. According to the person who posted this video on Youtube, these were taken on Monday, 26th September 2011.

WATCH:: UFO sightings over Brooklyn, New York.

This triangle-shaped craft (possibly TR3B) was recorded hovering in the night sky over Pine Bush in New York on Monday, 26th September 2011.

WATCH:: Triangle UFO over Pine Bush, New York.

Bright objects were seen and filmed flying across the sky over Auckland in New Zealand on Tuesday, 27th September 2011.

WATCH:: UFOs flying over Auckland, New Zealand.

Multiple bright objects were recorded flying over University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania on Saturday, 24th September 2011.

We witnessed 4 orange orbs, that hovered and then joined into formation. We were walking to our friends house, right by the University of Pittsburgh, when we saw a bright light in the sky. At first it moved to quickly to be a plane or helicopter, but then it slowed down and vanished. Next, we saw another orange light move across another part of the sky, and then another in a different area. Finally, four of the lights came together in a diamond formation and hovered right above the city. Then, they broke formation and light went away, but we could see a metallic like object in the sky that was the same circular shape as the orbs. - MUFON.

WATCH:: UFO fleet over University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

This video of bright objects or orbs in triangle formation flying across the night sky over Stickney in Illinois was recorded on Sunday, 25th September 2011 around 1:15 am.

Three flickering lights in the sky was unbelievable, I heard no sound and saw nothing else. I was driving on pershing road in stickney Illinois at around 1:15 am , on Saturday September 25, 2011. I noticed three flickering lights moving slowly across the sky. I pulled over to the side to observe the objects. They looked like about airplance distance. Not an airplane too high or low. The three lights were following each other and began going up higher. I was in disbelief and thought about my cell phone.I took two pictures and videotaped what I could.The three circles looked like they were in a triangular form.They went from bright orange reddish to white. It was a cloudy night so the objects slowly moved behind the clouds and I could no longer see them. - MUFON.

WATCH:: Triangle UFO formation over Stickney, Illinois.

Chile has been active with UFO sightings recently. Here's a TV report with Jaime Maussan about the UFO activity in 2011.

WATCH:: UFOs keep messing with Chile's airports.

Bright objects or orbs in triangle formation were filmed in Sozopol, an ancient seaside town located 35 km (22 miles) south of Burgas on the southern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. This was recorded on Saturday, 24th September 2011 around 10 pm.

Here is more news that what is currently taking place on the Earth is also happening in the rest of the solar system, as a huge sections of the ice around the south pole of Mars is melting in this summer's warm weather.

The ice cap - made of solid carbon dioxide at temperatures as low as -143 - 'boils' every summer (or, more correctly, 'sublimates' directly from solid form to gas), leaving huge pits in the Martian polar ice. The 'gold' lining these pits isn't likely to be ferried back to Earth, though - scientists remain unsure of the chemical composition of the yelllow, shimmering dust that lines the pit walls every 'summer'. Martian summers are rather chilly in comparison to our own - the temperature usually remains below zero degrees centigrade. It's still 'warm' enough, relatively speaking, to make the 'dry ice' of the polar ice caps boil off. Part of the fascination of Mars for both scientists and writers has always been how similar the planet's weather is to ours - with seasons, currents, and polar ice caps. Mars has no surface water, however. Scientists often study Mars's weather in the hope of better understanding our own. There have also been academic studies into the feasibility of 'mining' Mars for precious metals - but the academics concluded glumly that it was unlikely we would ever find enough to make it worth the trip. - Daily Mail.

Residents in Manila waded through waist-deep floodwater, dodging branches and flying debris as a powerful typhoon sent surging waves as tall as palm trees crashing over seawalls and submerging entire areas of the Philippines capital. At least twenty-three people were killed, most of them in metropolitan Manila, which was already soaked by heavy monsoon rains ahead of Typhoon Nesat's arrival and where the old town areas by the bay suffered their worst flooding in decades. People around Manila were tackling a massive clean-up Wednesday, the deadly storm is due to slam China's Hainan Island next.

Typhoon Nesat, which hit the Philippines’ most populous Luzon island, left at least 23 people dead and dimmed prospects for a record rice harvest. “Had it not been for this storm, we could reach record output this year,” Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said in an interview with DZRH Radio, when asked about rice production. “We’re praying for the sun to shine.” Nesat was centered about 380 kilometers (238 miles) northwest of Baguio City on the north coast of Luzon at 11 a.m. local time today and was accelerating with maximum winds of 130 kilometers per hour as it moved away from the country, the weather bureau said today. A new tropical storm will likely enter the country within 24 hours, ABS-CBN News reported, citing the weather bureau’s officer-in-charge Graciano Yumul. The number of “affected” people reached 171,570 in 22 provinces, with almost 53,000 being served inside and outside evacuation centers, the disaster risk agency said. The death count has risen to 23, Civil Defense Administrator Benito Ramos told reporters in Manila today. The Philippines gets hit by an average of 20 cyclones each year that form over the Pacific Ocean to the east. In September 2009, Tropical Storm Ketsana submerged most of the nation’s capital after dumping 41 centimeters (16 inches) of rain in six hours, killing more than 300 people. - Business Week.

WATCH: Filipinos cleaning up after Typhoon Nesat.

Typhoon Nesat continues to move towards the Northwest bringing the potential for flooding in Vietnam and South East China while the Philippines prepare for yet another tropical system approaching the islands from the West.

At least 5,000 people have been affected by torrential rains and flooding in the southeastern Mexican state of Tabasco, emergency management officials said Tuesday.

A total of 111 communities have been affected in the Gulf state by the heavy rains, which caused rivers to overflow their banks, the Tabasco state emergency management office said in a statement. The cities of Balancan, Centro, Emiliano Zapata, Macuspana and Jalapa have reported the heaviest damage, emergency management office spokesman Roberto Lopez said. There is flooding in the southern section of Villahermosa, the capital of Tabasco, from the Mezcalapa River, the city's mayor, Jesus Ali, said. "We have damage and are dealing with it," the mayor told Efe. Officials in Villahermosa fear a repeat of the situation in 2007, when flooding caused extensive damage and affected nearly 1 million people, Ali said.

Five of the nine rivers that cross the Tabasco plain have overflowed their banks on some stretches, including the Grijalva, La Sierra and Usumacinta rivers, the National Water Commission, or Conagua, said. The number of people affected by the rains could rise because officials in Emiliano Zapata, a city on the banks of the Usumacinta River, reported thousands of people affected by the rains, but the information has not yet been confirmed by the emergency management office. More than 35,000 hectares (about 86,420 acres) of farmland and corn crops have been destroyed by the floodwaters, the state agriculture department said. Tabasco Gov. Andres Granier has asked the federal government to complete a series of flood control projects to prevent future flooding in the state, where rivers regularly overflow their banks. - FOX News (Latino).

It seems that the series of phenomena, involving a persistent and invasive vibration or noise, continues pervasively. Just what is it? Planetary tremors? Geological upheavals? Precursor to an imminent disaster? Motions and waves suggesting an imminent pole shift? Supernatural occurrences? The latest case comes out of Missouri, where a big booming sound was heard of unknown origins.

A loud, explosion-like sound that was heard across the majority of the county this morning has local officials scratching their heads. The boom, which occurred at about 9:30 a.m., shook windows in several Lebanon area locations and was heard as far away as Conway, Falcon and Marshfield, but scanner traffic indicated that an officer in the Sleeper area heard nothing. Laclede County Office of Emergency Management Director Jonathan Ayres told the Daily Record that his office, which is located across from the Laclede County Government Center on Adams Avenue, was shaken by the sound, but its exact cause may remain a mystery. "We have no clue," he said. "It could have been a sonic boom. Typically when that happens, we have a hard time getting the military to confirm or deny if that is what it was. It really didn't sound like a sonic boom in my office, but we just don't know what it was. We haven't had any reports of fires or anything that could be the result of an explosion. We are pretty much having to write it off as an unknown." - Lebanon Daily Record.

It should be noted that the New Madrid Seismic Zone, one of the major seismic zones in the United States and a prolific source of earthquakes, stretches across the state of Missouri. The New Madrid fault system was responsible for the 1811–1812 New Madrid earthquakes and may have the potential to produce large earthquakes in the future. Since 1812 frequent smaller earthquakes were recorded in the area.

At least six people including four children died in Colombia when their house was buried by a landslide in the north-central province of Antioquia, emergency authorities reported on Tuesday.

The tragedy occurred early Monday after several days of torrential rains in the remote municipality of Angostura, said Freddy Rendon, director of the Office of Disaster Prevention, Attention and Recovery Office. "Six people died, including the father, the mother and four children, who unfortunately were buried among the rubble," Rendon told local reporters. When rescuers arrived at the site, a daughter of the family, who was not in the house, called for help, but it was too late. The bodies were recovered later on Monday. Over 100 people have been killed in Colombia in similar events so far in 2011 after unusual heavy seasonal rains caused widespread flooding and river overflowing as well as landslides in mountainous areas. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has urged local governments to take extra measures to minimize the impact of the erratic weather that is believed to be the key cause for many natural disasters, and to ensure adequate evacuation plans in place. - CRI English.

Hundreds of dead fish have been found in the Swalecliffe Brook, Kent, United Kingdom

Around 300 sticklebacks and populations of eels, an endangered species, have died. Investigations by the Environment Agency have revealed that the incident was caused by a sewage leak, and they have launched a major clean-up operation. Contractors have been brought in to increase the levels of oxygen in the water with specialist equipment so that any further harm to wildlife and the environment is minimised. Colin Bowley of the Environment Agency said: “This is a serious incident which has affected a significant stretch of the brook.

“Our officers have taken action to use the tidal sluice to isolate the pollutant in the worst affected stretch and we are now concentrating our efforts to improve water quality in the brook. "Environment officers are currently on site collecting evidence, taking further water samples from the river and monitoring the watercourse closely. “In partnership with Canterbury City Council, we are investigating the causes and impact of what has clearly been a serious incident. "Both organisations have been busy advising the public and putting up signage to warn people of the incident.” The Environment Agency has traced the source of the pollution and will continue to oversee the clean up of the incident. The investigation is ongoing and no further details can be released at this stage. - Kent Online.